


Yakone

by GreenNebulae



Series: Bloodbending [2]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Bloodbending (Avatar), F/M, Gen, Katara vs Yakone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2019-08-16
Packaged: 2020-09-02 09:21:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,292
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20273602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GreenNebulae/pseuds/GreenNebulae
Summary: “This time, I’m going to put you to sleep for good.” Yakone threatens. Katara hears the wail of her husband and curses that this city has no dormant water she can call upon. She reaches out with her bending, but it’s been decades since she bloodbent, and her skill is not strong enough to reach him.As Katara begins to see them, Aang returns into the Avatar state, but no Avatar knows how to bloodbend or escape bloodbending, and the Avatar State continues to crumble.





	Yakone

“If what we heard is true, then he can bloodbend outside of the full moon.” Aang says over dinner, bringing Katara up to speed on the evolving case.  
“I would believe it.” Katara slowly puts down her tea, careful about her next words. “The full moon requirement has always been superstition.” Superstition started by Hama, all those years ago, when she used it on the full moon to kidnap civilians, up until the point where Katara helped stop her. Katara hasn’t bloodbent in decades, Not since Aang made her promise not to. It hasn’t come up in conversation in about as long. Could she now?  
“This is no ordinary criminal then” Aang confirms with a grimness he’d never referred to lightning or metalbenders with. “I should help Toph.”  
“If she’ll let you,” Katara laughs, reaching out for the first time with her bending to the Avatar. She closes her eyes, feeling his steady heartbeat in her hands, “but be careful.” 

_Days later_

Katara stares into the mirror as she styles her hair into her traditional loops. Today will be an eventful day, that’s for sure. Yakone is a monster, twisting his bending into an underworld tool. Katara thinks of Hama, of how Hama had done much less and was doomed to spend her whole life in a Fire Nation cell. She wonders if she should have sought her out after the war, if there was anything to be redeemed about her; if there was a person underneath the victim the Fire Nation turned her into. There was likely so much that Hama could have taught her if Katara had reached back out. She wonders if Hama ever killed someone, or if even now, Katara is the only one to use bloodbending that way.

“I don’t know if you should go.” She hears Aang say from the hallway and shifts, hair half done, to face him.  
“Why not?”  
“Yakone is dangerous.” Aang states, and Katara is deafened by all the things he’s not saying, or maybe its by all of the things she’s thinking that he never would. His heartbeat is steady and strong, and she knows he has no idea she’s listening.

“If he’s truly that dangerous, then I am the only one who could stop him.” Aang stares at her, the clouds in his eyes are uncertain, but he knows her and he knows she can’t sit this out. He nods,  
“You’re right.” If Yakone is truly that strong of a bloodbender, then Katara needs to be there. He just wishes he could save her from the harm Yakone can do, physically and emotionally. He saw what bloodbending did to Katara’s mind, twice, and he wasn’t going to let her suffer under it anymore. 

Katara watches the case unfold and wonders if she should be a more active participant. She could speak of experience. She could test him, but that all brings up more trouble than it is worth.  
No, let them do this. Let future historians think Yakone was first. She does not want her own life to be scrutinized any more. She doesn’t want people to think she taught this to Kya.

Yakone reaches into her brother’s body, and Katara grits her teeth as she lets Yakone hold her own blood in place. Her bloodbending is a secret, and it must remain that way. As long as he is not hurting them, she will wait until he is alone and she will attack him later.

When her husband’s head shoots up under the Avatar state, Katara reaches out and breaks the hold Yakone held over everyone. Let them think this is an Avatar power. She checks their hearts as she stands. They are okay. Aang flies from the room on an air scooter, and Katara runs after him.

“This time, I’m going to put you to sleep for good.” Yakone threatens. Katara hears the wail of her husband and curses that this city has no dormant water she can call upon. She reaches out with her bending, but it’s been decades since she bloodbent, and her skill is not strong enough to reach him. 

As Katara begins to see them, Aang returns into the Avatar state, but no Avatar knows how to bloodbend or escape bloodbending, and the Avatar State continues to crumble. She prays to Tui and La that he is alright. 

“Stop!” Katara screams and Yakone drops Aang, who falls in a heap. Katara has flashbacks of her victims as she sprints. Yakone waits, mockingly, and Katara finally gets close enough to reach out and feel Aang’s blood. He’s okay.

Yakone watches Katara with a smile on his face.

“Master Katara,” He mocks. “Your precious Avatar couldn’t stop me, what makes you think you can?” He brings his arms out and jerks his fingers. Katara feels him pull on her blood and frowns deeply. “I shall end you both here and now.” In Republic City she usually feels safe, she stopped carrying around a water pouch. There are no trees or leaves nearby. It is not humid. There is no sweat on either of them. There is only one source here that calls out to her as master waterbender. She moves her foot outwards and brings her arms out, fingers jerking, and his fragile hold on her breaks.  
“My bending is stronger than yours.” She announces.  
“You-” He cuts himself off as he feels his arms freeze in place. “You’re a bloodbender.” Katara says nothing, just shifts her stance and brings her arms down. “It doesn’t even hurt.” Yakone mumbles, then he grunts and tries to break free, but he yields to her as easily as a stream. She makes him kneel in front of her. She debates stopping his heart and sees lightning behind her closed eyes. Unlike Aang, Katara has always been willing to do whatever it takes to keep the world spinning. If he is a danger, he needs to be stopped.

Aang’s stands up as he watches Katara silently restrain Yakone. He made her promise never to bloodbend again, he pushed for it to be illegal, and yet here it is, saving the day. _Again._ He closes his eyes and calls forth the Avatar State.

“Katara,” Aang calls, the echo of lives passed removing the intimacy from his voice. “I can handle it from here,”  
“Okay.” Katara turns her head to meet Aang’s blue eyes. The wind he causes sends her hair flying but she is not intimidated. With a stomp on the ground, he brings forth stone from the earth to trap Yakone and Katara releases his blood at once. She drops her hands as Yakone glares at her.

“I’m taking away your bending Yakone, for good.” A hundred voices echo as one. Yakone yells out. Katara looks away.  
“Take hers! You have to take hers too!” He screams desperately. Aang doesn’t admit it's true, that she’s guilty of the same crime he’s being arrested for.  
“It’s over.” Aang states and Yakone falls silent as his bending is ripped away from him. In that instant, when his ties to Tui and La are severed, he begins plotting his revenge.

It would seem anyone can bloodbend with enough training. It doesn’t have to hurt, but it should. If people think he is the only exception to the rule, no one will expect anyone else to do this. His legacy will continue. His sons will kill the Avatar and Katara.

Other cops arrive and Katara sinks into the shadow as the group attributes this to Aang. This is just like Azula. It is better this way. She steps aside, into the shadows, and wonders if history will even remember her.

On the edge of her mind, a question lingers. What will happen next time?


End file.
